Friendly Acquaintance
by Joannes808
Summary: Following a joint exercise tournament, two girls, always forced to keep their most inner feelings to themselves find each other alone and talk out their problems in life for answers.


Disclaimer: I don't own this show

(Nonna's POV)

She was sitting alone reflecting on the days earlier events. It was about three months since the championships, and Pravda, the school she was enrolled in was once again pitted against their longtime rivals Kuromorimine Girls High School to keep up their skills between seasons, and one again Kuromorime was able to take the upper hand taking out their flag tank. No matter how hard they tried, they always found themselves falling short of the same school, their heavy tanks always outdid theirs with their heavier armament, and their leadership was never failed to take the upper hand.

She was sitting on a fallen log at the edge of the woods trying to find a little peace and quiet as the two schools were shipping out, moving their heavy beasts about and preparing the transports to ship out all of the ones immobilized (they always found themselves needing more transports when up against them).

She always loved nature, the school ship had several park areas for recreation and practice, but they never seemed right. She was listening to the rustle of the leaves in the trees around her, and the occasional bird singing a distance away. She ran one of her hands through her long black hair as she thought herself; nobody ever understood her, and she always found herself being forced to hold in her feelings and opinion at the fear that someone would criticize her on her point of view. She was always close to Katyusha, the commander of their Sensha-dō team, but she was never able to really connect in a real friendship type of way, though she was always fond of her when they were together. She was so deep in thought that she never noticed that someone was approaching her from the field.

(Maho's POV)

She was finally able to get all the preparations done for her team's departure back to their school ship and was looking for some alone time. She was always alone with no one to truly talk to, all of her fellow classmate were always afraid of her as she came near, and her mother always taught her to avoid those type of relationships. She would talk to her second in command, but it was pretty much always about tactics and other Sensha-dō related topics, she was never truly friendly, and she would only want to be with her on official business.

Other than that she was alone, nobody understood her. She always wanted to have true friends to socialise with, but nobody ever saw her as that. It was expected of her by everybody to be cruel.

She lifted her gaze from the ground and saw someone at the edge of the wood. She knew she was, but she never so much as said a word to her though she always saw her around. She was just like her, when you were always in so much solitude with your feelings you could tell when you saw someone that was the same. She always wanted to take to her for quite a while, but she would only see her when either one of them was with fellow team members that she knew would try to just get in the way, but this it was different she was sitting alone, and she left her team behind to set everything up.

She didn't know what was going to come out of this, but she knew that she would regret it if she didn't try.

(Nonna's POV)

She came out her state of thought when she finally heard a faint sound of approaching footsteps. She looked up and saw who was coming; it was the commander of Kuromorimine's Sensha-dō team, and the very last person she expected.

Everyone else always saw her as a cold hearted leader with no remorse, but she always knew that their was more to her than that, and that deep down that she was just like her, someone that was unable to fit in.

She always wanted to approach her from the first time she met her (actually it was her and Katyusha talking in her cold emotionless voice, but she could tell that that wasn't her), but she always found that they were always with someone that would make it impossible. She was trying to see where she was going, for if she came near her she was going to try to bring up a conversation with her, she had a feeling that she might just reject her attempt at bringing up a conversation, but she just wanted to finally talk to someone that she thought would understand how she felt.

(Normal POV)

Maho finally came close to Nonna seeming to be looking at something nonexistent, but she could easily tell that she was deep in thought.

She nearly passed her with the fear that she wasn't going to want to talk to her when Nonna called over to the short brown haired girl with a simple "hello" bringing her out of her thoughts as she turned with her dark brown eyes meeting with Nonna's deep ocean blue.

They froze where they were for several seconds motionless as they both think in disbelief that they actually acknowledge each other.

Maho, growing a little discomfort from the silence finally broke it. "Hi..." she froze thinking about what to say. "I was afraid that you were not going to want talk to me."

Nonna knowing how it feels stood up and answered. "Actually I was afraid of the same thing."

Knowing that they were actually talking, Maho walked back towards Nonna to get to better talking distance. "I was actually trying to be able to talk with you for a while ."

Nonna was shocked that she was also trying to talk with her at the same time as her replied. "I was as well."

The two began to feel a little more comfortable about the situation, knowing that they were feeling the same way.

"I..." Maho then froze. She has spent so much time trying to find the opportunity to bring up a conversation with her, that she didn't even know what to say. She felt like a young school girl trying to take to the guy she had a crush on, (even though she didn't have any kind of crush on Nonna).

Nonna didn't know what to say as well after that point, but she tried her best to think of something quick before she lost the opportunity. "I knew that you weren't like what everyone put you out to be."

"Wha, what?" Was the only response Maho could think of. Of all the things that she could have said,that was the last thing she expected.

"Well you always never seem to show much emotion as you talked, and because of your family, everyone seems to always take you as a cold person." She answered.

"But you don't?" Maho questioned.

"No, I always knew that you were a kind person just by looking at you, and I always saw that that was not what everyone around you wanted so you kept it to yourself."

Maho was amazed at what she said, as that was exactly what she had always felt, and that she always had the faint feeling that that was what she knew and understood.

"My mother always expected me to be like this and take over the school after she leaves. She always wanted me to keep the family's tradition going." She replies.

"All of my comrades always expects me to be strong for them, and always being friendly with them would never live up to what they expect of me."

Neither of them didn't know why they were opening up to the other like this. Weather it was because they never had the opportunity before, or because they could tell that the other was exactly the same. But either way they didn't want to stop and close up to the other again.

"I never really wanted them to know who I am because I always thought that they would never accept me for who I am." Nonna continued

"Mabby they don't have to." Maho said out of the blue.

"Wha?" Now Nonna was the one confused by what the other said.

"I always saw how great of a person on the field, and more importantly off. You are a great person, and I always knew that Kuromorime needed a commander like you."

Maho just out of nowhere actually offered her to be her second in command at Kuromorime, an offer that she knew people would actually kill for. But she knew that her place was in Pravda, her team needed her, and more importantly she knew Katyusha needed her, she couldn't take the offer no matter how generous it was.

"It's a generous offer. Really, it is. But I can't accept it. And besides, don't you have Erica already?" Nonna replied/asked

Maho thinking over what she said leaned onto a nearby tree crossing her arms. "Erica's a good commander, but I know that she would scrutinize me on the spot If she knew who I actually was like."

Nonna thought about making a similar offer that Maho just gave to her several moments before. But she quickly abandoned it because she knew that there were several major obstacles that would make it impractical. Fist: She knew that Maho's family would never allow her to make such a move as to actually switch schools. Second: The very thought of having a Nishizumiat Pravda would be unthinkable in any sense than comical. And Third: She knew that making such an offer to Maho, arguably one of the greatest tank commanders of her time, and the air to Kuromorimine Girls High School, one of the most prestigious in the world; to give it all up, to become Katyusha's second helper could seem to be insulting to a degree to her.

Maho looked to the girl next to her and saw that she was deep in thought. She knew what she was thinking about, and she didn't want to upset her in any way, but the quietness once again was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. She looked back into the field seeing Pravda's small but 'lively' commander giving orders from the top of her T-34 (which she knocked out herself earlier that day), and decided to break this uneasy silence. "You care for her don't you".

"Who?" asked Nonna not knowing who she was talking about.

"Katyusha, your commander, I always see you by her side, whenever she needs you." she answered.

"Ya, I always saw her as a sort of little sister of mine."

Maho closed her eyes once again to think, what she said reminded her so much of when she looked out for her little sister Miho...before her mother disowned her.

"Maho-san?" Nonna saw a single tear go down her cheek and land on the forest floor, and grew concerned for the other girl.

Maho stirred out of her thoughts by the sound of her name and turned to the long black haired girl who was now standing right in front of her.

"Maho-san, are you ok?" She asked again.

"Ya, I'm ok." she lied.

"Are you sure?" She had to ask, she saw that something was troubling her, and she didn't like seeing her like that.

"Actually. No, I'm not." Maho finally admitted feeling that she could trust the girl before her.

"Is it about your sister?" Nonna kindly asked, after overthink their conversation, she remembered that Maho began to become down after mentioning her relationship with Katyusha.

"Yea." was she could say before wiping several more tears out of her eyes. "She always looked up to me as her older sister, and after the championships last year..." she paused bringing up the courage to finish what she was about to say. "...I just stood there as my mother literally through her out like worthless trash."

She finished and felt so much weight come off of her chest as she admitted her true feelings about the matter for the first time to anyone.

She felt like a monster. Miho always was so kind to her, and when she needed her most, she wasn't there at her side.

She felt several more tears fighting to escape, when she felt a hand come onto her shoulder.

"It's okay, It wasn't your fault. You were afraid to help your sister because you would have risked losing everything as well. You can't blame yourself for what you couldn't prevent, even if you did stand up to your mother."

Maho fought back the tears from escaping and looked at the girl who was in front of her. And she made a small smiled at her to show her that she was ok; Nonna returned one back to her. The first ones either one of them have made in such a long time that it felt like eternity.

"Thank you Nonna-san..." Maho wanted to say more. But then from a far way out in the field, she could hear one of her teammates calling her name as they were finally heading out.

"Well, I guess It's time for me to leave." She replied to her friend.

"Yea, I guess it is." Nonna replied.

Nonna offered out her hand before she left which caught Maho completely by surprise, but she eventually caught up and offered her hand as well, shacking eachothers hands before she headed off.

"Bye Nonna-san"

Maho left without another word as she heard her name called once again. Turning around and walking out into the field in her usual fashion like nothing even happened. Nonna stood in the same spot since she placed her hand on Maho's shoulder. And though neither one of them could see the others face, they both knew that they were still holding the same smile from a few moments back as they reflected over their conversation.

Nonna knew that she would have to head out as well as the sun began to lower, turning the sky a beautiful mixture of golds and reds over the field.

Both of them had many more things that they wanted to say, and had the feeling that the other had as well. But their time was up, and they both looked forward to the next time their two schools came against each other.

To meet the supposed enemy that they trusted more than their closest friends and family.

To tell their innermost feelings, and regrets to someone that understood them.

To feel the way that they never felt till just now.

To one again see their friendly Acquaintance.

* * *

Well here you go, my first attempted one shot, Girl und Panzer Fanfic, and the first story I ever completed.

I got the idea about the story shortly after seeing the last episode of the series, and based it a little off of some of the Sango/Kikyou Fanfics

I read before thinking that Maho and Nonna seems to make a good match. It was intended at first to be a oneshot, but after I posted it at about two in the morning, I saw some errors that were really starting to annoy me so I had to rewrite it.

I hope you like it, and I hope to hear from you again.

Please read and review.


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